Active Learning / Outdoor Classroom Resources for Teachers & Schools
At WinterKids, we believe that snowy fields and frosty playgrounds make the best classrooms! WinterKids helps teachers to get their young students outside and active more often during the school day with training and enrichment educational materials, technical support and resources, supplies and incentives.
WinterKids Guide to Outdoor Active Learning (GOAL)
Our Guide to Outdoor Active Learning (GOAL) for Preschool and Elementary children is the cornerstone of our work in schools. WinterKids makes it easy for you to integrate fun, outdoor activity into your preschool or elementary lesson plans—all while meeting education standards. Use the WinterKids GOAL on its own OR join the WinterKids Challenge!
WinterKids offers Maine & New Hampshire editions of the GOAL with alignments to state and national education standards.
The WinterKids Challenge – Kid-Centered & Teacher-Approved!
Classrooms enrolled in this challenge for pre-schoolers agree to complete outdoor, active lessons and activities from the GOAL during the winter season.
First-time teachers attend an in-person, regional training receiving toolkits and incentives. Returning teachers complete a webinar refresher and receive updated materials. The WinterKids Challenge allows pre-school children to receive more active academic opportunities in the winter and increases the concentration, learning capacity, physical activity and healthy behaviors of students.In 8 years of the WinterKids Challenge, over 31,000 kids and 2,459 teachers have increased their outdoor physical activity minutes by 2.4 million minutes using the WinterKids Guide to Outdoor Active Learning. Wow!
The WinterKids Challenge in Maine Schools won the Maine Public Health Association’s Public Health Program of Excellence Award in 2016. The award recognizes one effective, efficient, evidence-based, and creative public health program each year.
The WinterKids Winter Games inspired 7,332 students and 1,113 teachers and staff from every county in Maine to go for the gold in 2020!
The community has been super excited, the whole school, there's been a different atmosphere and we're just really happy to be chosen to be part of this, this year.
Hillary Hoyt
Teacher / Leroy H. Smith School
Kudos to you and this organization for mapping out such a wonderful program for Maine schools. I have been blown away by every aspect of this initiative.
Christine Bertinet
Principal / Waterboro Elementary School
Win or lose, this has been a wonderful experience for our staff and our community.
Ben Tripp
Principal / Ash Point Community School
Of course we want to win! But I feel like we've already won... It's an immediate result. You can see the difference in the kids."
Crystal DaGraca
Principal / Swan's Island School
Ok, first and foremost, this is the COOLEST program. The amount of thought that has gone into it is incredible.
Sam Person
PE Teacher / Waterboro Elementary School
I am SO thankful for the impact this Winter Kids competition has on our kids. In this short time, the changes in attitudes, physical activity, even the helpfulness of students was very heart-warming.
School Nurse
Piscataquis Community Elementary School
Because of this competition, my family is now rethinking our snack choices and making healthier ones, our kids and community have formed a wonderful bond coming together for one goal, and you managed to get a Mom, who hates winter and the cold, outside embracing the beauty of Maine having fun with her kids.
Dayton Consolidated School Mom
How do you combine a community, school, home, nutrition, exercise, team, kids, parents, teachers, school spirit, awareness, and fun? Participate in WinterKids Winter Games!! Seriously had no idea how amazing this would be and what our community was capable of! The support and Camaraderie is incredible. What a positive experience this has been for our kids and all the parents too!
Christina Barber
It has been inspirational to watch our community unite around a common purpose of healthy, active kids.
Sarah Maxwell
Assistant Principal / Waldo T. Skillen School
Let's just say several parents told me their students were sleeping better at night and at school we've had much less behavior issues this week! Two very big positives for WinterKids Winter Games challenge week #2!!
C. Ellis
Principal / Miles Lane Elementary
This was truly an inspiration to the kids, staff and families to embrace the winters here in Maine, more than they already have.
C. Agreste
School Nurse / Dayton Consolidated School
MOBILE, KID-CENTERED, TEACHER-APPROVED, RESULTS-DRIVEN, AND AWARD-WINNING
229,428
Students, Teachers, and Families Impacted in Maine & New Hampshire since 2010!
WinterKids is the only nonprofit in Maine dedicated exclusively to increasing outdoor physical activity in children and families during our longest, most sedentary season.
The shorter, darker, and colder days of winter and the increasing allure of screen time make it all too easy for kids and families to “hibernate.” At WinterKids, we make it our business to provide kids, parents, and teachers with the right option: to get outside, get active, and have fun in the winter – and year-round.
Outdoor kids are active kids. Active kids are healthy kids. Healthy kids are happy kids. Happy kids are “winter kids.”
SEASON WRAP UP
FY2021
With outside being the safest and best place to be, WinterKids has truly thrived during the pandemic! We were able to reach nearly 27,000 kids, teachers and families in Maine and New Hampshire with creative adaptations for safe, outdoor adventures. Check out our 2020/2021 Season Wrap Up Report!
We are so thankful for our WinterKids Family – sponsors, foundations, teams, friends, volunteers, board and staff – and most important, the KIDS we serve. 2020 was a fantastic year for our organization, reaching over 35,000 (!) kids, family members, and teachers with innovative, outdoor education programs.
